Rafael

Election time is always a media circus.  Whether you are a loyal follower of CNN or a staunch Fox News viewer, you are undoubtedly watching the drama unfold every time a new election rolls around.  We will provide you with an objective look at election news.  Find out what the politicians are really up to in Washington and get unbiased reports on how candidates are promoting their campaigns and preparing for debates and other big events.  We are your election headquarters, with all the political news you want as soon as it breaks.

As of December first 2011, there will have been fourteen Republican Party debates sponsored by different interested groups.  This is great, in terms of opening up the process for people to watch, but how much is too much?  On average, there has been one debate per month between the Republican hopefuls, and no one has really come out as a lead contender for the Presidency.

When a debate ‘winner’ has been declared, it seems to give the green light for the other candidates to turn on him or her like a bunch of hungry piranhas.  Is this really the way we want to present our best face forward to the world?  In each debate a new controversy erupts-whether it is about ‘cheering death’ or refusing care to seriously ill people, from Herman Cain’s brain lock in an interview to Rick Perry’s gibberish on national TV, do we expect too much from these people?

This is a brutal schedule for anyone to keep.  The preparation for these events, even if the candidates know all of the topics or questions in advance is an exercise in marathon memorization of facts about issues. The candidate has to learn how to answer questions to give the most amount of information in the briefest amount of time.  They also must look interested and fresh-sometimes after an entire day of rehearsal and practice.  It’s not surprising that people misspeak, forget what they are saying, or get so tired they cannot think straight any more. It’s important to remember that these candidates are human too.

If Washington wants to really get the attention of Americans, it’s time to revamp the debate drama.  Hold fewer debates and make them high quality rather than high quantity.  If candidates would talk less and add more substance to what they say, people would be more excited to support their campaigns.

If you have kept an eye on the news lately, you have undoubtedly heard mention of “The 99” and “The 1”.  These two groups seem to be crusading in opposite directions politically and everyone is talking about.  So who are the 99?  Who is the 1? Since Occupy Wall Street starting making news at the end of September, the definitions tend to be vague and phrased in political rhetoric that seems to miss all of the facts available as to who these people are, exactly.

So, who is the 1%?  These are the Americans that are the richest 1% in the country.  They currently own over 40% of the nation’s wealth, and take home more that 24 % of the nation’s income.  They own fully half of all of the stocks, bonds and mutual funds, and they account for only about 5% of the US personal debt.  In short, they are the owners of corporations, the big name CEOs of Wall Street firms and the Presidents of the big banks.  They also, until the early 1980’s, paid taxes at a 70%-90% income tax rate. Since the mid 1980’s this number has dropped to the current rate of 35%.

The 99% represent the rest of the people that live in America.  The 99% owns about 7% of the nation’s wealth and only own about .5% of stocks and bonds in this country-if they own any at all.  The 99 % hold 73% of the debt in the country in the form of mortgages, college education costs, car loans, credit card bills, and health care bills.  The 99% are the people that are feeling the brunt of the economic woes over the past ten years.

In January of 1944, Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave his annual State of the Union address before congress.  The US was in the middle of WWII; most Americans were involved in the war effort, either by working in wartime industries or by raising money to send to aid organizations.  Most of the able-bodied men of the nation had enlisted into the Armed Services.  Yet, there were still those who tried to profit from the war at the expense of everyone else.

Special interest lobbies are nothing new in this country; in fact they have always existed.  But what FDR proposed in his State of the Union was a basic Second Bill of Rights that would promote the economic security and independence of everyone.  Along with our country’s promise of freedom in the pursuit of happiness, came several specific items that FDR wanted protected.

These include the right to well paying jobs that provide the ability to buy food and have a place to live, no domination of business by unfair competition or monopoly, the right to adequate medical care, the right of protection from economic hazards of old age, illness, or unemployment, and the right to a good education.  These ideas, while revolutionary then, became the rallying point for the many in this country.

These are ideas that it might be useful to revisit if we want a secure country that is not headed to Egyptian-style revolution.  The dissatisfaction and disenfranchisement of many in the country today demands some radical rethinking of how we do our daily business.

Whether or not you want to be involved in politics, you likely are. If you have a job, you are into politics whether you like it or not. If you want to stay “ahead of the game” so to speak, you should learn how to make politics work for you and not against you.

Of course if you have a job in a corporation you want to move up the ladder and become the best you can be. The thing you need to understand however is that you do not need to use “dirty politics” to do so. There is no need for you to go around spreading gossip about others to work your way up the ladder and there is also no need to sell yourself short either. Office politics can be done in a manner that will not cause you to become a bad person.

Be sure, as mentioned in the above paragraph that you do not gossip about others to get ahead. Also be sure to always be professional in any circumstance. It is also a good idea not be whine about jobs you are given to do. Your boss may give you certain tedious and seemingly meaningless jobs in order to see if you are willing to do them without complaining. Be careful to always be on guard and do your very best at any job given to you.

Something you may not think of is to strive to make your co-workers look good. You may think that this will backfire on you but you will be wrong in that assumption. By making your coworkers look good you are showing how well you work with others.

Keep your chin up and be yourself and office politics can work in your favor!

With the race for the Oval Office in full swing, many Americans, especially college age students, have developed an interest in politics, as well as a strong desire to feel like they’re doing something to help. One of the best ways to feel like you’re doing something to influence the political future of the country has to be taking the time to volunteer with a political campaign.

You’re going to find that volunteering for a political campaign will be surprisingly easy. The only thing you need to do will be to call the local campaign office and offer up your services. You and the office will need to work out a routine that coordinates when they need help and when you have time available. You shouldn’t expect your time at the local office to be glamorous.

Unless you have been volunteering for a long time, you’ll most likely be doing menial tasks such as passing out literature and answering telephone calls. Even though you won’t be getting paid, and there will most likely be days that you can think of offer things you’d rather be doing, you should treat your time with the political office as seriously as you would a real job. You’ll be able to use this experience on your resume to help you secure a job in the future.

Keep in mind that although volunteering and helping out with a presidential campaign can be very exciting. There are also less prestigious political campaigns with candidates running for state and local offices that could really use your help. Many people feel they make a bigger impact by helping out with these smaller campaigns.

Hector grinned at an young lady crossing the street and waved. His thin gray hair was combed back and his wrinkled face was lined with decades of expression. She smiled wide and waved back. Hector wasn’t always so pleasant. In fact, he spent a number of his years just as the stereotypical grumpy old man would. Standing out on his front porch yelling at kids when they walked to close to his yard.

The cause? It was actually something so small and mundane that one would probably think it silly if they were told. But it wasn’t silly to Hector. Oh no. Hector had been trying to quit smoking for nearly a decade. Starting and restarting had exhausted him emotionally and left his nerves on edge more often than not. It wasn’t until his grandson had brought a funny looking contraption to his house as a gift that Hector had found his solution.

The gift? It was one of the best electronic cigarettes.

Hector had never seen nor heard of anything like it. As a matter of fact he didn’t care for it at all. He had certain intolerance for fancy technology that made him curse even if the power so much as went out in a storm. His grandson did end up talking him in to it though. He had showed Hector a number of electronic cigarette review sites online and showed him how this device had helped so many others kick the habit.

Hector sighed and took the package, thinking of the benefits he read about on the Safe Cig Review. His first puff on the electronic cigarette was the most memorable because Hector was baffled at how much it tasted and felt like an actual cigarette. “And it keeps out all the poisonous chemicals and will protect you from some of those scary health concerns, grandpa.” his grandson had said. And it did. Hector had never felt better. He had even got his grandson to pick him a few ecig cartridge refills to change up the flavor a bit.

Hector laughed as a baby walked by, hand in hand with her mommy, singing a very incomplete version of Mary had a little lamb. He took a long draw of his ecig and sighed. The sun was bright in the sky and painted the colorful rays around with a golden luminescence that nearly brought a tear to Hector’s eyes. If his wife were here to see just how this neighborhood had grown she would probably just as awestruck as he. Not to mention proud that Hector had finally kicked that habit thanks to some convincing arguments on the Green Smoke Review and his grandson’s quotes from the V2 Cigs Review.

He took one last draw and grinned. “Well, another day. Another reason to smile.”

Many of us Americans are completely disgusted with the politicians in Washington D.C. Personally I feel like we constituents have been treated like we are stupid; the politicians have been keeping us in the dark about issues that directly affect us. They have been lying, cheating and stealing for decades and they see no real reason they should not continue to “pull the wool” over the public’s eyes. But they misjudge us; on the whole the populace is sick of the rhetoric and we are ready for a change.

Sick of rhetoric and broken promises; most of us don’t believe what politicians say so why on earth would we want to watch election debates? Well, at my house my wife rules the remote and she says it is our duty as citizens to watch the debates. I respectfully decline to argue but I have taken matters into my own hands (literally) and developed my own little avoidance plan.

When a debate comes on so will my smart phone. My plan is to be present physically but mentally tune the whole thing out by playing online bingo for free so she can’t gripe about the way I waste money. There are more free bingo sites online than any of us are likely to play in a lifetime and I know that I can easily find free bingo any time I want.

I have been doing my debate evening preparatory research; I have the sites I most enjoy added to “My Favorites” so I don’t have to do any searching once a debate starts. I have marked such sites as Bingo Street, Xbingo, Wonder Bingo, Gossip Bingo, Rogers Bingo and an exciting newcomer, Bingo Cams. These are all bingo sites that I have found to be exciting and entertaining; this is certainly more than I can say about any election debate in recent memory.

To me, a good bingo website should be attractive to the eye, easy to use since I am no computer whiz and it should offer a wide assortment of games. The sites aforementioned feature free bingo in addition to pay to play games. Along with bingo they feature such casino games as slots, card games and table games. Seriously, you will never be bored playing any one of these action packed websites.

By the way, Bingocams features live action! As the name implies, cams are the hallmark of this fun site. Players use their own webcams to send and receive live action as their game is played out; this is a real first for online bingo.

Hopefully you will find my ideas helpful. I can rest knowing that I have given Americans a real alternative to watching election debates!

More and more, no matter which side of the political spectrum you follow, you will hear certain names mentioned in conjunction with the political parties.  At present these names are Grover Norquist, The Koch Brothers, and George Soros.  Who these people are, and their influence in American politics today, is what is driving much of the current ideology war today. This is a very brief biography of who these people are, and why they are so important.

Grover Norquist is credited as one of the founders of the modern neo-conservative movement.  He is a proponent of serious reduction in the size of the Federal Government and author of the famous pledge that many Republicans have signed saying they will oppose any tax hikes at the Federal level.  He is founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform.

The Koch Brothers are David and Charles Koch whose father founded Koch Industries a multi-billion dollar per year business.  They have given more than $100 million dollars to organizations espousing conservative and libertarian views, including the Heritage foundation and Americans for Prosperity.  They have extensively funded the Tea Party through Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks.

George Soros is a business magnate and chairman of the Soros Investment Management.  Soros has given over $8 billion dollars to human rights, public health, and education causes worldwide. He donates his money and his name to numerous causes including the Center for American Progress and MoveOn.org.  He has not, at this time contributed to any of the Occupy organizations.